4.27.2009

This is the main thing I plan to buy in Tokyo. Any guesses? But I probably won't be able to find it..and if I do I don't even know if I'll be able to use it in Canada. I will get something like it though.

An earwax-picking device of some sort with a camera/screen so you can view the inside of your ear while you dig in there.

4.12.2009

Some more photos from my dad's Asia trip to get me more excited for MY trip!! Continued from HERE. These ones in this post are all from China.

I find it very interesting looking inside the homes of people from other parts of the world. My dad met the woman who lives here then asked to take some photos of her home lol.

Terra Cotta Warriors in Xi'An!!

I recently became very very fascinated with them. I know a lot of people know next to nothing about what they are so I'll attempt to summarize it for you. I actually don't know too much about this but anyways, to the best of my knowledge:

Qin Shi Huang was the first emperor of China. He wanted to be buried with his entire army after his death, so at the age of 13 he ordered over 700,000 workers to begin creating an army out of terra cotta - taking nearly 38 years. Today, only about 8000 of these soldiers and horses have been uncovered so far (and its believed that's only 1% of the entire enormous tomb) They all have really life-like features as well; no two faces look the same. The emperor's actual burial site still hasn't been excavated..I hope they'll do it soon. I'm not sure if the entrance has even been found yet but I can just imagine all the traps that must be set up around it.
I think the excavation process is currently stopped because the terracotta loses its colour and begins to decay a short while after being exposed to air. So they're trying to find some technology first to preserve it before digging any more.

I find this so amazing. Like I said, this is probably less than 1% of the entire tomb..I can't even imagine what it must look like once it's ALL been uncovered. I really hope I'm still alive to see it.
They were first discovered in 1974 (after 2000 years of being hidden underground).
I really want to visit this place on my next trip to China..and also Beijing for the Great Wall!

Our plane tickets have been booked! We're going to leave Toronto May 4th..Guilin on the 7th..Tokyo around the 15th..then back to HK..and coming back to Toronto on the 24th. Oh and Macau somewhere in between which I'm really excited about (the Las Vegas & Monaco of Asia!). We were originally going to leave on the 22nd but I realized..I definately need to attend the opening of the Louis Vuitton exhibit so we extended it :D

I just spent the past couple hours looking at every one of the 900+ pictures my dad took on his vacation last month to Japan, China & Hong Kong. I won't be going to the same cities as he went but looking at all these pictures make me SOOOOOO much more excited!!!! Because guess what?! I will be going to Hong Kong, Guilin AND Tokyo on my upcoming trip!!!

Actually my mom said we could go to Guilin and Tokyo (5 days each city) OR spend 10 days in China visiting Guilin, Beijing, Shanghai, etc..once again very hard decision, since I really wanted to go to the Great Wall & see the Terra Cotta soldiers as well. But then again..I must visit Japan. I'm not sure if Tokyo is 100% for sure yet though, because we might visit Kyoto or Osaka instead. All I know is that we'll be gone for 3 weeks. I'll write more details tomorrow because it's already 5:44am and I'm still awake.

Here's some interesting pictures from my dad's camera - he's not here right now so I have no idea where/what all these places are so I'm going to assume they're all/most of Okinawa, Japan:

I love spontaneous trips - just 3 days ago my mom asked if I wanted to take a trip, and already..by the end of tomorrow our flight tickets will be booked!! It's times like these when I'm really grateful for having a family who loves to travel so much. I feel like anything can happen and I won't care just because I have the trip to look forward to. Obviously I can't really concentrate on anything anymore. How am I going to study for my upcoming exams?!?

4.10.2009

In my previous entry, I talked about how I might be going away on vacation after my exams. Nothing's for SURE yet...but (if everything goes according to plan) I will be going to Hong Kong!!!

I guess most of you know already but my parents are originally from there..they take trips back there like every year but I haven't been there since 1998. I've always preferred visiting Europe over Asia but this time I'm actually really excited to go.

I'm kind of taking the same trip as my dad who just came back awhile ago lol. But this time I'll be going with my mom and she gave me the choice of also visiting China or Japan! I want to go to both but unfortunately it's too expensive and I think we're going for just 2-3 weeks.

I already made my decision about where to go but if you had the choice, would you either go to:

TOKYO?!

Obviously one of the best things about going to Tokyo is because it's one of the fashion and shopping capitals of the world (I'd say it's 2nd behind Paris) and everything's just so cool there. I've always wanted to visit the Ginza District.

But besides shopping, there's also the extremely high-tech gadgets. I'm kind of a tech nerd. Just a little bit.

OR.....

GUILIN?!

For as far back as I remember, I've always considered this place the most beautiful in the world. It's like heaven on earth!
These two places couldn't be more different; Tokyo is so high-tech, clean, and expensive while Guilin is the total opposite. But it has amazing scenery and a really different way of life (which I've always wanted to experience).

I've already made my decision but I won't say what it is before we book the trip..but please give me your opinions!
As I said, nothing is certain yet. I really really really hope I can go though. My mom wants to leave like immediately after my exams end (beginning of May) which is great because it means this might all be happening in less than a month!
Hopefully we get everything booked soon so I can start making my shopping list hehehe